1971 Boss 351 R code

[sgtbromen]

if your state will allow you to title it save it if you can afford it. if not i would buy it and keep what you want and sell the rest of the parts to other boss restorers and make sure the fate of this r code is added to the known list of boss's still around or destroyed

 

[M9Powell]

I'm presuming your is the grabber green metallic one for sale. I owned a 71 Special order Absolutely loaded Boss 351 in CC Loved the car, but if it were a color change I would have hated that part and not purchased it. I'm not a fan of color changes and I have seen so many original green cars painted other colors. I would love to find an original Grabber green one, but loaded. Great examples are nearly non existent. I always deduct for value when coming across a color change as it is in the same class to me as a car needing a complete stripping and paint. I like cars to be a good example of every color of how they came from the factory. An undesirable factory color to me is always more attractive than a color change. If I can't live with the original color , I won't buy that car. This car is better for a person who can do body work that likes it's original color. What you will be putting into this car and being a color you want to change sounds like the wrong car. Better off to find a better body with a livable color which should be cheaper in the long run and worth more when done. I would only do a rust bucket if it was ordered from the factory as I would have wanted. Your car will have a color change and major body repair history which will always negatively impact the value. Not to mention it has been stripped of many original parts. What you will end up with is a car with very little near it's original essence. Keep it green and less negative stories to hurt value. Just my take.

If I buy it, my object is too recreate a car I once had. My current daily driver is a Built to serve edition 2021Ram 1500 in Tank Green (Olive Drab without the drab). Its a special edition marketed to retired miltary personnel. I also have a green jeep. Green is perfect for pickups & jeeps. For a Mustang though no so much IMO. I agree a color change is not ideal, but if you are trying to recreate a car from your youth, its about the only way. I'd say its just about mission impossible too find a original CC 71 R code. So the only way I know to get one is too color change an undesirable color car. This car would have too be repainted anyway with a lot of new metal welded in. I'd dare say that the desirability of CC would increase the price this car would bring over an undesirable color. Besides I wouldn't be building it to sell, but rather too keep. I see green about the same as the 4300D. Give me Orange & a Holley any day. The car could have come factory CC but this one didn't & the Holley is a factory Ford part from a 70 mustang. I guess that's close enough too originality for me. There is a guy that lives near me that has a 71 Mach 1 that was green from the factory who painted it back with some Nissan burgundy paint because his brother worked at the Nissan dealer & got the paint for free. I couldn't do that yuck.

 

[Greg]

We all have different view points. That is a good thing. I'm under the view point that we are curators and are temporary owners if we are good curators. I do what I consider is right for the car, not me. Nice cars are supposed to outlive us. Just as you think a green mustang is a bad color there are many who love green Mustangs and abhor a color change. You mentioned a potential value of 70K which means less unless it is sold. It might cost that much or more to restore depending on what you do, but your time should be a number also. You implied you aren't young so it will be most likely sold as CC someday by you or your family. I just sold a loaded rare optioned 69 Convertible executive car that was painted CC. It was originally Silver Jade which I absolutely love, but never got to enjoy because the CC was too nice of condition to justify stripping and painting which would have been too much work for someone who has many projects that are in more need of paint. I bought it on the cheap and sold it at least under 10,000+ what it would have brought if it was Silver Jade. I would still own it if it were still green in any condition. A Boss would be even a larger discount for a color change. I've seen so many green color change cars for sale as they will be sold someday and it is always such a disappointment. I believe in creating new memories and keeping the old ones just that. My green cars have always had more crowds at cars shows etc. than any other color I've had. they are somewhat rare nowadays. The right shade of green done right is far more exotic than any color change could be. I could live with any non factory bolt on parts that could easily be changed, but never a color change. They made three 71 CC bosses, but yours will never be one of them it will be considered a fake to many of us. Bright red ones are easier to find and in the sun they almost look CC. Create new memories

 

[M9Powell]

You know sometimes something is rare because no one wants that crap. Well maybe except for you. Me & CC have a long history. My first one was a 70 Cyclone. But Mercury calls it Competition Orange. My last one was a 2018 Challenger. But Dodge calls it Go Mango. No matter the name its all the same color. And if I make another CC Boss it'll make 4. And no one will consider anything with a 5th digit VIN R a fake, well except for you maybe. This car is at present such a basket case that I won't be the curator of it but more like its creator. Don't know if you are aware but both the 2003 or thereabouts Mach 1 & the 2013 or thereabouts Boss 302 were both available in CC but now ford calls it Competition Orange just like Mercury. If you believe so strongly in preserving this Slime Lime, then buy me a original CC car & I'll trade this rust bucket to you.

 

[M9Powell]

The important thing for an R code in my book is the engine. And this 1 still has its original engine.

 

[Greg]

The important thing for an R code in my book is the engine. And this 1 still has its original engine.

I'm just stating my view points and I'm far from alone as being a purist and a green car lover. There are plenty of people who change colors on this site. So yes , I might be in the minority here. I meant a fake CC car not a fake Boss. All though it will be a partial rebody etc.. I wouldn't even put the original block in if I were going to drive it much as it can be preserved better out of the car. What you want to do with the car is better than it rotting away unloved. I would love to have my 70 CC Mach 1 from high school, but not if it prevented me from owning all the cars with new memories since. CC is a great color for muscle cars and it should have been a regular color offered for the 71-73 Mustangs. I think CC with Vermillion interior is horribly ugly though, but I will take it factory over a color change. Since there are less CC Vermillion cars than green cars made maybe by your logic, no one wanted them because they are crap except for you maybe. Not my logic though. Simply, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Ugly to me doesn't make it a ugly car, just ugly to me and some others. I've seen my past Boss 351 CC car for sale recently as an auction listing. Don't know what it sold for, but should have been at least 125K. All original unrestored and loaded to the hilt. That to me would be a better buy than a low optioned nearly parted out rusty car with a factory color I abhor for even nearly free. The green car will always have that history. The only way I would consider a rusty car would have to be a high option car. I consider a virgin body far more important than the original block. You can probably find a date coded block. You can also find a better Boss for the time and money you will have spent on this project and have a better car in the end. This Boss is far from a bargain. I've restored enough to know. Good Luck in what ever you do.

 

[71ProjectJunk]

I'm just stating my view points and I'm far from alone as being a purist and a green car lover. There are plenty of people who change colors on this site. So yes , I might be in the minority here. I meant a fake CC car not a fake Boss. All though it will be a partial rebody etc.. I wouldn't even put the original block in if I were going to drive it much as it can be preserved better out of the car. What you want to do with the car is better than it rotting away unloved. I would love to have my 70 CC Mach 1 from high school, but not if it prevented me from owning all the cars with new memories since. CC is a great color for muscle cars and it should have been a regular color offered for the 71-73 Mustangs. I've seen my past Boss 351 CC car for sale recently as an auction listing. Don't know what it sold for, but should have been at least 125K. All original unrestored and loaded to the hilt. That to me would be a better buy than a low optioned nearly parted out rusty car with a factory color I abhor. The green car will always have that history. The only way I would consider a rusty car would have to be a high option car. I consider a virgin body far more important than the original block. You can probably find a date coded block. You can also find a better Boss for the time and money you will have spent on this project and have a better car in the end. This Boss is far from a bargain. I've restored enough to know. Good Luck in what ever you do.

Not everyone is in this hobby for the money, if they were this hobby would not exist. I will tell you that 95%+ of people with these cars will loose money on their car. I have never made money on one of these cars, by the time you do everything that needs to be done on the car, it inevitably ends up in the red. I bought this 71 Mach 1, and I am going to do ALL the labor, except for maybe machine work on the engine and rebuilding the transmission, but body work, paint, interior, suspension, steering, brakes, rear axle, and taking everything apart and putting it back together will be done by me, and I can assure you I will be in the red by the time I finish. I hate green, but I will paint this car the color it came in on, because that is what I believe should be done, but if anyone wants to change the color, it's their car, so whatever makes them happy. If the OP wants to save that Boss, let him at it, I would certainly love to save it, even though I know that I will end up in the red when I am done. I do this because I want to save some of these cars, and have something to do with my spare time. I am semi-retired, or at least I think I am, so I have quite a bit of spare time, so instead of watching TV and being all day on the internet on the couch, I spend some time working on the car. It keeps me moving and healthy, being underneath a car, and getting up and down from the floor will do miracles for you Also, I do not consider replacing rusty body panels as a partial rebody, although I have no idea how much metal needs to be replaced on that car. Most of these cars have had body panels replaced, it is just the way it is. I agree that I prefer a virgin body, than a matching numbers car, but if you put 2 identical cars at auction that outwardly look great, one that started out with a virgin body and one that was rusty, maybe was hit at one point or another, and got all the metal replaced, the matching numbers car will bring more money, as when both are done to the same degree, no one can tell that one had panels replaced, but everyone knows one does not have the original engine.

 

[Greg]

Not everyone is in this hobby for the money, if they were this hobby would not exist. I will tell you that 95%+ of people with these cars will loose money on their car. I have never made money on one of these cars, by the time you do everything that needs to be done on the car, it inevitably ends up in the red. I bought this 71 Mach 1, and I am going to do ALL the labor, except for maybe machine work on the engine and rebuilding the transmission, but body work, paint, interior, suspension, steering, brakes, rear axle, and taking everything apart and putting it back together will be done by me, and I can assure you I will be in the red by the time I finish. I hate green, but I will paint this car the color it came in on, because that is what I believe should be done, but if anyone wants to change the color, it's their car, so whatever makes them happy. If the OP wants to save that Boss, let him at it, I would certainly love to save it, even though I know that I will end up in the red when I am done. I do this because I want to save some of these cars, and have something to do with my spare time. I am semi-retired, or at least I think I am, so I have quite a bit of spare time, so instead of watching TV and being all day on the internet on the couch, I spend some time working on the car. It keeps me moving and healthy, being underneath a car, and getting up and down from the floor will do miracles for you Also, I do not consider replacing rusty body panels as a partial rebody, although I have no idea how much metal needs to be replaced on that car. Most of these cars have had body panels replaced, it is just the way it is. I agree that I prefer a virgin body, than a matching numbers car, but if you put 2 identical cars at auction that outwardly look great, one that started out with a virgin body and one that was rusty, maybe was hit at one point or another, and got all the metal replaced, the matching numbers car will bring more money, as when both are done to the same degree, no one can tell that one had panels replaced, but everyone knows one does not have the original engine.

I agree 100% with everything you mention. I think the OP should follow his dreams, not mine. I'm just giving my view point. I don't have the ability to appreciate a color change and will always see it as a car that needs every bit of color change removed and painted with original color in original paint formula. I don't even like a two stage paint job in the factory color. Every single car I've purchased were for passion. Money was always secondary. People in this for money only somewhat ruin the affordability for the rest. I will always be aware of the numbers though and also being that the original post mentioned numbers. You still want to do the best you can with the numbers to mitigate losses which are most likely gauranteed no matter what direction you go. Why would you be buying a low optioned rust bucket in a color you abhor? Seems like because of money as part of the reason. The initial price will be low, but a restoration usually costs far more than finding a better body to start with unless you are a welder, but time is also money even if you enjoy it. If this car were a high option car, I would be looking into it also even at a higher price. Many people that buy numbers matching cars don't even check numbers completely. This car isn't a complete numbers matching car, but the most important part will allegedly be. It also appears that there are variations of what numbers matching means as with fords it is more dates than numbers like GM cars. I'm not the expert in that area though, far from it.

 

[Graham Man]

Always wanted to find a Boss, still looking. If the price is right, sounds like a find of a lifetime, I have been looking for over 30 years. My holy grail is 1972 4F (medium lime metallic) R code.

Pictures Please! Good Luck